Winter's Road
by Fantasy Cat
Summary: Set in late Season 2 then goes AU. The farm is lost to bad people and Daryl is sent in to rescue the youngest Greene daughter, but nothing goes as planned and soon there is a struggle to find their friends and family again. Bethyl eventually.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Nothing from the show is mine.**

**A/N: This is set in late season 2 after Dale dies and will be very AU from there. If you worry about Daryl being too OOC in this first chapter keep in mind that the loss of Sophia is still fresh in his mind and with Dale dead, he's emotionally shut down once more...at least in my story.**

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><p><span>Chapter One<span>

Daryl had been out hunting attempting in vain to vent his frustration at all the recent events...not to mention his failures. Sophia, in particular. People kept telling him it wasn't his fault...his responsibility, but he felt like he was the only one who cared while everyone else was getting too cozy on the Greene farm. He really wanted no part of it. Hadn't gone back into the house since his head injury. He was content with just camping outside and keeping watch from the RV.

Of course, didn't need all the rabbits he got as the farm had plenty of livestock, but Daryl was no moocher. He could get his own food no matter whose property he was on. And he certainly was not intending on being indebted to anyone.

On his way back, he could hear gunshots coming from Hershel's farm. Soon the rabbits he had in his hands were forgotten and Daryl made a quick dash back to the camp. As he ran down the hill, he could see a swarm of vehicles and men shooting at Rick and the others. They were making a hasty retreat, a wise decision as their attackers were too large in number.

It was Randall's people and somehow they had found the farm and were swarming their way in.

He hurried down the hill and Rick emerged from the woods. "This way, hurry!"

Soon everyone from camp was entering the woods forced to crouch down as they heard shots fly in their direction. Daryl pulled out his shotgun and started firing back at their attackers keeping himself hidden behind the trees.

"We have to get outta here," said Rick. "There's too many of them!"

Daryl helped Rick to protect the fleeing group as they got deeper into the woods away from the gunshots and the men. By the time they were up the hill, it seemed the men were no longer in pursuit. They were safe. But Daryl was furious. He knew Randall and his people were bad news, but he never imagined they would be able to find their way here. "Where's that punk, Randall? I'm gonna kick his ass!"

"They killed him," said Rick. "As soon as they saw him, they just killed him like they never even knew him."

"Rick!" cried Lori. "Shane's still back there!"

"He'll make it out, don't worry." Daryl grumbled at Rick's optimism over Shane because it was more about assuring Lori than anything. In fact, Daryl had a bad feeling that Shane might have played a role in leading those Nebraskan bastards straight to them. Other than that the rest of the Atlanta group was there, plus Maggie. "Daddy?! Beth?!" She scanned the chaos but found no sign of her close family or friends. "Where are they?!"

Glenn looked over and spotted Hershel down the hill. He ran over to him to grab his arm and get him to safety. "Come on!"

Hershel struggled against Glenn's grip. "Dammit, let go of me. Beth's still in the house!"

Maggie panicked. "What?!"

"Patricia and Jimmy went back to get her!"

But looking back at the farm in the distance, Maggie saw no sign of Patricia, Jimmy, or her sister. "They haven't made it out yet?"

Rick pulled out Dale's binoculars and got a decent view of Randall's people who were now invading the farmhouse. A few seconds later, some men stepped back pulling Jimmy with them at gunpoint. They then brought Patricia out in a similar fashion. "Oh god!" cried Maggie.

"Daryl! Let's go. The rest of you, stay here." Rick and Daryl hurried back towards the farm, but were careful not to be loud about it. They hid behind the large log pile at the border between the farm and the forest. Luckily the nearest guard was too far to notice anything suspicious. They could now see Jimmy and Patricia being forced onto their knees with their hands behind their heads as the group surrounded them. "They're useless to us," said one of them. "Just kill 'em."

The bangs came so frequently that there was nothing Rick or Daryl could have done. They had to watch two of Hershel's closest companions die right before their eyes.

"Any sign of Shane?" Rick asked after a brief moment of silence.

"Nah," said Daryl as he looked around the men. "Dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

The door to the farmhouse flew open getting everyone's attention. "It just got even better fellas! Look what I found upstairs!" A larger surly man was forcefully pulling Beth out. She had been in bed still recovering from her traumatic state when the invasion occurred. She clearly was in no condition to be on her own two feet and was having trouble keeping her balance but she still tried to fight the man off in vain. The large man threw her to the ground hard and she was unable to get back up. "Like struckin' gold!"

Another man broke through the crowd. "Not so fast, fellas. I'm in charge here. So I gets to decide what to do with 'er." The leader grabbed Beth by the chin forcing her to look at him. "Damn, look at you. You look like you oughta be put down."

Beth look over and saw the bodies of Jimmy and Patricia and instantly broke down. The fear and the pain was all overwhelming her. "Now, now. Don't cry, honey," said the leader. "We ain't gonna kill you just yet...not when we got a use for you. This is your home, ain't it? How 'bout displaying some nice Georgian hospitality for us and show us where the the goods are." He pulled her up and shoved her back towards the house.

Rick was about to jump up but Daryl pulled him down. "You crazy, Rick? We can't take 'em all, even with the others..."

"And what do we tell Maggie and Hershel, huh?"

"You think I wanna leave 'er? We already lost this one, man. We gotta go, get the others and get back on the road."

Rick was stunned by Daryl's willingness to give us. "You can't be serious, Daryl." Then he came to a realization. "Is this still about Sophia? Dammit, that one wasn't on you!"

"And I almost got killed cause of that!" Daryl was practically yelling now, it didn't matter if those men heard him at all. "I've done enough riskin' my ass to watch people die like her...like Dale. I tell ya, I'm done."

"They're not gonna kill her right away. What was that you said about they'll do to the women?"

"Don't matter," said Daryl as he tried to walk away. "She'll die either way and we can't do nuthin' about it. What's the damn use in tryin'?"

Rick angrily grabbed Daryl by the arm. "You listen to me. No way in hell am I gonna go back to Hershel and tell him we left his daughter behind! You hear?"

"You kiddin' me? YOU left Sophia behind and that turned out just fine, didn't it?!"

Daryl felt Rick's fist before he could see it flying towards him. The two men wrestled in the trees for several minutes. Noses were bleed, bruises increased until finally they were both too worn out to continue their scuffle. They looked back to the farm to see if anyone noticed their fighting but thankfully no one was in hearing distance.

"Don't do this, Daryl," Rick huffed between breathes. "I need you to help me, here. Help her. If it doesn't work, fine. But we gotta give her a chance. We gotta tell Hershel we tried."

Daryl wiped the blood from his face. "You better have a good plan, man."

Rick only needed second for a thought to occur to him. "I think I do," he said. "And it involves you."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Rick and Daryl returned to the others to inform them about the situation and let them know about the plan.

"It's too risky," said Maggie. "What if Beth has to run?"

Rick assured him. "She should be fine. If everything works out."

"To hell with that," said Andrea. "Let's just take them out and get the farm back. We got enough ammunition."

"But they might have more. Daryl and I did the numbers. There's no way to fight back without getting more people killed. The only way we're gonna be able to get Beth out is if we sneak her out."

"So why you want me to do it?" asked Daryl.

"You weren't there when they showed up. With Randall dead, there's no one there to recognize you. You can go in there, and see if they let you join their group. Undercover."

"You think they'll let me in that easy?"

Daryl didn't like it when Rick started to look him up and down. "You are the only one here who looks like the type of guy they'll let in." He tried really hard to resist punching Rick again. He resented how everyone still looked down at him...labeled him...like Merle. But perhaps his brother was right. Perhaps he was redneck trash and that was likely how the group would always see him. It's no wonder they considered him best for the job.

He had to hold the feelings of hurt back, however and go along with this seemingly hopeless plan. "Fine."

"We'll head back to the highway where we first started and wait for you there. But we shouldn't stay for very long. Maybe a day or two and we should get going."

"What if I need more time?" asked Daryl

But Rick reminded him, "Beth has less time than you do. Remember that."

...

The group split as everyone except Daryl made preparations to head back to the highway. Daryl gave them his shotgun and kept the crossbow to arouse any suspicion. As he was getting water by the creek, he could hear footsteps approaching.

"I'm on it, Rick. Just gimme a minute."

But he paused when he turned around and instead of finding Rick, he instead found Hershel. "I wanted a word with you before you head out, do you mind?"

"Knock yourself out."

"I saw how much you risked and lost to find Carol's little girl. I want you to know...it means a lot to me that you're doing the same again for mine. No matter what happens...I just wanna say thank you."

"I haven't done anything yet."

"But you intend to. Given the world right now...that's a lot. Even if she doesn't make it out, I still want to thank you for what you're doing."

Daryl felt really uncomfortable by the old man's hand trying to reach out to his. Reluctantly he took it back and shake it but it still felt like he was making some sort of obligated agreement.

Now the feeling was sinking in. He would not be able to live with himself if he could not get to Beth before it was too late.

...

The group headed for the highway and Daryl traveled the woods until he got to the southern road. He would take it back up to the farm. He cleverly took the time to roughen himself up a bit, make it look like he had been traveling a long while which took very little amount of effort on his part. There were even a couple of walkers to kill along the way to add some blood to his look. And given that he was still sore from his fight with Rick, he physically felt like he had been a mess.

After a couple of hours, Daryl found his way to the entrygate to the Greene farm and its new guards gave him the expected greeting of pointing guns at him

"Hands up!"

Daryl raised his hands and smirked. "Easy, hoss."

"Hey, Robin, is he one of the guys here? The ones we chased off?"

"The hell you talkin' about?," said Daryl. "I've been walking for days...came all the way from Fort Benning. Heard them gunshots and thought there'd be people here."

"Well there are," said Robin. "But you ain't coming in here."

"Now, hold up just a sec." Daryl recognized the man approaching him as the leader of the group he had seen earlier. "Name's Tim. You look like a confident fella, spent a lot of time in the woods have ya?"

"It's in my blood."

Tim suspciously looked at his face. "Where'd you get them bruises from? They look about a day old."

"Some asshole tried to jump me for my crossbow." Daryl pulled out one of the arrows that still had blood on it. "Barely had enough in me to finish him."

"Speaking of assholes, you haven't seen any other people in the past few hours, have ya? Maybe a cop with a large group of people?"

"Hadn't seen much on the road, other than walkers." Daryl pointed to Greene farmhouse. "That your place?"

"As of this morning," Tim said almost with pride. "The people who lived here...they killed some of our men. So we had to even the score, if you understand."

Daryl tried to keep a straight face. "Yeah, I get it."

"You're welcome to stay the night if you want. Then we'll see if you're good enough to stay on permanently. Come on in." Tim opened the gate and Daryl followed him back onto the farm. He surveyed the area for Beth but found no sign of her.

But he did find someone else...or at least what was left of him...impaled on a fence. The bugs were already eating away around the bullethole through Shane's forehead. "That man's the one who came to us and told us about this place," said Tim. "So we gave him our typical 'thank you'".

"Good riddance," Daryl muttered under his breath.

Tim led Daryl into the farmhouse and the men had in just a short matter of time completely trashed the place. Family heirlooms and pictures were all destroyed and the kitchen pantry was completely raided. There was still no trace of Beth and that started to really worry Daryl.

"Boys, I told you to ration that sh*t! Same goes for the booze."

One of the men bellowed at Tim. "F*ck that man. We're on a farm. Bitch showed us where all the good stuff is at."

"Who's the bitch?" Daryl asked feeling the need to play along.

"The only good looking thing we found when we got here. Looked sick as a mule but I'll take what I can get." Tim led Daryl away from the kitchen. "I told the boys we'd wait till tonight. But they'll be so passed out by then, that I won't need to share."

Daryl found himself instinctively grasping the handle of his hunting knife hard. He quickly stopped himself from doing anything stupid. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Norman."

"Alright, then. Everyone, welcome Norman, he's come for the housewarming party!" The men cheered and Tim grabbed Daryl a warm beer. "Bottoms up, Norman."

Daryl had reluctantly taken the beer. Since he was a new guy, he would be forced to camp outside though it seemed as though it was hard to keep any order around with this bunch. The most they were doing at the moment were a handful of guards around the farm perimeter. The rest were focused on their victories.

All the while Daryl was trying to figure out where Beth could have been taken too. A tour of the house yielded no findings. The sun was setting, and the partying in the house was softening. With not much time left, his eyes then glanced over at the old barn where Hershel had once stored the walkers. Daryl noticed how some of the guys would occasionally walk by and try to take a peak inside through the cracks. The barn door now had a new bolted padlock on it.

Daryl nonchalantly started walking towards the direction of the barn.

"Where you going?" said a nearby guard.

"Just trying to find a piss room."

"No outhouses here. You can piss wherever you want but keep away from the crops."

After the guard left Daryl walked around the back of the barn and waited till he was the only one around. Then he went over to the side of the barn that had a decent crack in the walls. He looked down and he saw the backside of Beth Greene. Her hands were ziptied behind her to the nearest wooden pile. Her head was dropped down very low.

"Beth?"

She didn't seem to be responding. The only sound Daryl could hear was sniffling.

"Beth," he said louder. He could see Beth tense up but she was shaking. "It's me...Daryl..."

But she didn't say anything. Of course not. She barely knew him and he barely knew her. "The redneck? The one that took your horse and shot your mom?"

Now her head was trying to turn toward the source of the sound but couldn't get very far. "Rick sent me. We're gonna get you out, but you gotta pretend like you don't know me, alright?"

"Maggie...my dad...," she pleaded. "Are they okay? Did they make it out?"

"Yeah. They're waiting for us." Daryl quickly turned around. The atmosphere was getting tense now as many of the men were now hanging on the porch. Tim could easily be among them. "I'll be back in an hour. We might haveta run. Be ready."

Daryl then took a switchblade from his pocket and tried to shove it through the whole in the wall. Miraculously, it landed in Beth's tied up hands and she squeezed her palms around the weapon very tight. "Just in case."

Daryl headed back to the farmhouse before anyone could see him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Beth wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with the knife.

The naive side of her wanted to believe that it was in case a walker broke into the barn. But deep down she knew that wasn't going to be the worst thing that could happen to her if Daryl didn't come back. She didn't know if Tim or any of his other men would come back into the barn first. It was a struggle trying to use a blade against zipties, but she was determined to keep trying.

...

Another sight would infuriate Daryl as he made his way back to the farmhouse. The men had now completely trashed the campsite that the group had settled into since their arrival on the farm. Dale's RV now had all its windows broken and was plastered with graffiti. Everything that they had to leave behind was now being claimed for the men's personal uses. And then there was Merle's bike. Some of the guys were messing with the engine trying to hotwire it. But Daryl still had the keys in his pocket and the bike had been modified in a special way to hopefully prevent such a thing.

With any luck maybe he can get out of here with both Beth and the bike.

Tim was still drinking with some of his comrades on the porch but things were starting to get a little heated. "I told you boys that this is how it works. If I say the bitch is mine then that is that!"

"Bullsh*t! You never cared 'till now who got 'em first," one of the men complained.

Tim then punched the man in the gut and then pulled out his gun. The other men were either too scared or too drunk to do anything. "I say it again, I get 'er first, hear me?"

The wounded man on the floor groaned and then gave a slight nod. "And that is how I keep order 'round here. Norman understands that, too. Ain't that right, Norman?"

Daryl looked over at the barn then looked back at Tim. "Yeah. I get it now."

"Well, looks like Harry's down for the count. Mind if you take his place guardin' the forest-side tonight? Good way to earn your keep."

Daryl nodded reluctantly. "Good," said Tim. "Come on."

_'Sh*t'_, Daryl thought. Tim was heading back to the barn earlier than he had planned. Daryl would now have to rethink his strategy as he was forced to follow Tim back to the barn. Two men were already standing guard infront of the barn doors. Tim then told the men, "I don't want any disruptions when I'm in there. Hear me? This could be an all-nighter." Tim then looked over at Daryl. "What you waitin' for? Someone to kiss you goodnight? Just head to your post over there," Tim pointed past the barn and towards the woods.

Tim then headed to the barn doors and Daryl was at a lost as to what to do. He would not be able to take Tim out on his own with his guards right there. He started slowly walking towards the woods. Suddenly, he heard one of the guards tell the other, "gotta take a dump. Be right back."

Daryl took advantage of the night darkness to make a quick turn to the side of the barn. As one of the guards was walking towards the woods, Daryl quickly grabbed him. He covered his mouth and then pulled out his knife. One quick slice to the neck and it would be over.

The other guard must have heard the commotion. "The hell you at, Jarvis?"

Daryl knew he was next.

...

Beth had gotten nowhere with the zipties. She feared that her constant effort had dulled the blade she was trying to cut with.

The barn door then opened and she looked up accidentally losing her grip on the switchblade. In the darkness she could see someone entering the barn with a flashlight aimed toward her. The light and the footsteps were getting closer. "Daryl?"

When the light appeared before her, Beth was staring straight into Tim's face who was now kneeling down infront of her with the most malicious smile she had ever seen. "Sorry, honey."

Her struggle to get out of the zipties instantly became desperate. "Aw come on, honey. I can help you out with that. But first..." Beth suddenly felt a painful punch to one side of her jaw and she started to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Tim quickly freed the hands from the zipties and began pulling her away from the pole.

Luckily, she started to regain consciousness quickly but Tim still had the upper hand. The weight of his body kept her legs down. There was no way she was going to get up. "You keep strugglin', it's just gonna hurt a lot more," said Tim as he was trying to unbuckle her belt. "Though I wouldn't mind that."

Beth ignored him and reached her hands out in desperation for the pole she had been tied to. But then she remembered switchblade. It had to be close by, somewhere in the hay. As her arm tried to search for the blade however, Tim reached over to grab it. "Do I have to tie you up again?"

Finally her fingertips, felt it. She struggled against Tim's grip to get the blade into position in her hand.

The blade when into Tim's hand first. As he howled in pain, he freed Beth from his grip. And then she tried again, for any place...only for it to get stuck in the abdomen.

Tim hands formed a strong grip around her neck. "Little bitch, I'LL KILL YOU!" It was so strong that Beth could no longer breathe. She knew that in a few seconds, she would lose all ability and black out.

Tim was then suddenly pulled back by the hair suddenly freeing Beth from his hands. As she fell backwards, she watched in horror as a large dagger was placed against his throat and quickly slit it open.

Daryl tossed Tim's body away to the side. Now that he had a better look at Beth, she was a mess. Aside from the fresh bruise to one side of her face, he could tell she had gotten earlier bruises. The rest of her was in no better shape. There was very little possibility that she could last long outside the barn but they had no other choice now. They had to try.

"Come on! We gotta go!"

He pulled her from the ground and they ran out of the barn. He made a quick turn towards the camp where one of Tim's cronies (one he had seen messing with Merle's bike earlier) try to charge them. But Daryl struck his crossbow at his head and the man was quickly brought down. "My bike, asshole!"

Daryl got his keys and got the bike started quickly but the other men on the premises were now alerted to the chaos. They could hear the men yelling and running towards him. "He killed them!" One man cried out. "Stop them!"

Daryl pulled Beth onto the bike with him. "Hold on tight." They got speed as the first shots were being fired at them. But he heard a discerning cry from Beth and Daryl could see blood in his side vision.

"F*ck!"

The bike roared as it finally made its way out of the farm, successfully outrunning its pursuers.

He waited until they got to a clearing that Daryl finally pulled the bike over. Beth was clutching her shoulder as tight as she could to keep from bleeding out any further.

"Still in there?" Daryl asked her.

"I...I think...it went through."

Daryl lifted her arm to look. "Sure did." He said. "Let's do this." He ripped his sleeve and used it to wrap around the bullet wound. But something quickly caught Daryl's attention. "Shh!" They both went dead silent as they started hearing moaning...lots of it.

"Son of a bitch." Daryl pulled Beth over to a large nearby tree. "Start climbin'!" He pushed Beth up the tree, compelling her to climb but she was in such bad shape that it made it hard to grab on, without Daryl's help. Daryl kept pushing her until she was at a supposedly safe distance from the ground. No one knew if the branches were strong enough to support two people and they had to keep perfectly still.

The first walkers were walking by when they started holding their breath. From where Daryl was, it looked as though there could be a hundred, maybe twice as many. Who knew how long it would take for them to pass?

In her nervous state, Beth didn't realize that she was holding the nearby branches too tight causing them to shake. When leaves started falling, she closed her eyes. It also didn't help much that she was bleeding through Daryl's makeshift bandage, what if that blood dropped down to the walkers?

Some of the walkers were just standing there by the tree. But Daryl stayed calm and perfectly still. He thought that if he did, maybe Beth would too. Keeping calm was the only way either of them had a chance of making it out alive, but he was getting his crossbow ready just in case.

As they were waiting for the walkers to pass Daryl looked over and realized that the highway was not far off. He could recognize the traffic snarl they encountered when they first arrived in the area. But even from where he was Daryl could see walkers all over the road.

They were everywhere, and there was no sign of Rick or the others.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

They thought it would take forever for the herd to disperse.

By the time there were only a dozen or so left hanging around, Daryl climbed down and finished them off. Beth waited in the tree until Daryl gave her the all clear and then he helped her down.

"We're almost there," said Daryl.

"Where?"

"The place where Rick and the others are at. Your dad and Maggie should be there, too."

For the first time in a very long time, Beth's heart was filling with relief and joy. She'd see her family again soon. They would all be safe.

Even though the highway was a short drive, Daryl decided he would walk the bike over in case there were more walkers around, plus he didn't want to waste the precious fuel. The trek took about half an hour in the cold but Daryl soon recognize the approaching road and the mess of cars...the same place where everything went wrong.

Daryl look around and noticed that their message to Sophia had faded on the car windshield. Very little of the food they had left behind for her remained.

"What the hell?" Daryl was looking around in desperation but instead found a few staggering walkers here and there and took them out. Beth was starting to get confused and uncomfortable in this area.

"They ain't here!"

"What?" said Beth. "What do you mean?"

"This is where Rick said to be."

"Are you sure?"

"It's where we lost Sophia. Dammit!"

Beth tried to help Daryl look for any sign of Rick and the other but all she found were corpses in the cars of strangers. "Why would they leave? You don't think they...?"

Daryl knew what Beth was afraid of. That herd they encountered had come from the highway. There had been so many that hiding would not have helped the group like it did last time. But then Daryl looked down at the pavement and saw tire tracks smeared with walker guts. "Got chased off. Looks like they were in a hurry too."

"They're okay, then?"

Daryl nodded. "If they're smart, they woulda gotten miles away from here."

"What do we do now? How do we find them?"

"Dunno. Can't track pavement. Besides, you're still bleedin'. Gotta find some bandages or somethin'."

Beth took noticed of her shoulder and realized that Daryl had been right. The cloth had completely soaked in blood and she was starting to feel a bit light-headed.

Just as Daryl was about to search for some first-aid, their attention was directed to a bunch of lights followed by the sound of vehicles...deep roaring vehicles. They came from the plains and looked to be getting closer to the highway.

"Is it them?" Beth ran over to get a better view as the approaching convoy. "We're over here!" she cried waving her arms.

But instinct struck Daryl and he ran over to grab Beth. "SHH! Pipe down, girl. It ain't them!"

The froze for a moment and kept their eyes on the lights. They turned and were now getting onto the highway. "Come on!" Daryl pulled Beth back into the highway pile up hoping to hide amongst the maze of cars.

The vehicles stopped just short of where Daryl rested the bike. Men came stepped out with their guns. "They're here somewhere, boys."

Daryl could see them from his hiding place. With Tim dead, Harry was now leading the rambunctious group. "We know you're here!" He called out. The men were now scattered about searching the cars. "No need for more violence, so how about he make a deal," said Harry. "Give us the girl back and we let you go. You'll never have to see or hear from us again." Harry stopped, then smiled when he saw a lump under a tarp on a truck bed. The tarp had some blonde hair sticking out from under it. "Or maybe we'll find her first...even better."

But when Harry lifted the tarp, he was suddenly met with an arrow to the chest. Daryl threw the tarp and the blonde corpse aside, grabbing for Tim's gun, then taking his shots at the other men. He ducked once they started firing back and started sneaking his way around the cars getting his shots at the men whenever he could.

He hoped the fighting would be loud enough to bring back the walker herd and sure enough, walkers began emerging from the woods. Because of the cars and the gun noises, the men failed to notice their approach until it was too late.

Daryl waited until every one of those bastards were either being devoured, shot, or have fled. Then he cautiously made his way over to a red Cadillac. He took the keys he had and popped opened the trunk. Beth had been curled up inside the trunk waiting patiently. "Did it work?" she whispered.

"Yeah but we got too many walkers comin'. Come on."

Aside from that, there was also one other problem with the plan. Merle's bike was on the opposite side of where many of the walkers were now devouring Harry and his men. They had to move quickly and quietly.

"You do what I say no matter what I do," said Daryl. "If I tell you to stop you stop. I tell you to follow, you follow."

Beth nodded and Daryl went first moving from car to car. He motioned Beth to follow. Several times he had her stop even when she was at a far distance from him. He had her wait even when they were just feet from the bike. Once Daryl got on and got the bike started, that was when the walkers were alerted to his presence and made his way to him. He stepped on the gas, quickly made his way over to Beth and pulled her on, with the walkers just a few feet behind.

It was a relief to both of them once the cars and the walkers were behind them and nothing but open road was ahead.

...

Cold and exhaustion forced Daryl to finally pull the bike up to the nearest house. It was clear from her struggle to keep her balance that Beth was not doing too well. He waited for any sign of walkers, then made his way to the front door. He banged on the door and waited again.

"Okay," he said. Beth slouched her way to the house. Once she got into the living room, Daryl was already going around the rooms checking each one, but she was unable to move. It wasn't the cold or loss of blood that was making her stiff...it was the thought of everything she had just went through in the past 24 hours: farm invaded, family gone, Patricia and Jimmy dead, dragged out of bed, beaten and locked up in the barn, almost being raped, and now being shot. Her head was starting to spin. It was just like after the walkers were taken out of the barn and shot...after the corpse of her mother tried to attack her. Her senses started to shut down one by one. The last thing Beth would see was the blood from her shoulder, still dripping as it was before.

Daryl had finished checking the last room when he heard the thump. Running back to the living room, he had his crossbow ready expecting to face a walker. Instead he saw only darkness.

"Beth?"

He didn't see her and wondered if she was in another room in the house. Then as he got further into the room, his foot hit something.

"Sh*t!"

His flashlight revealed Beth lying on the living room floor, almost looking like a tangled lump. He looked over her face and it was bit startled to see her eyes were still opened. "Come on, Beth. Wake up!"

A light slap on the cheeks did nothing. He checked her pulse. It was still there. But Beth remained unmoving, almost like a frozen stiff. Was this that catatonic shock that she had earlier?

"Dammit. I don't have time for this!"

It soon became apparent that Beth wasn't gonna be able to move in any shape or form. He scooped her up and got her to the nearest bedroom. Once she was rested on the bed, Daryl realized her gunshot wound had yet to be treated. He had hoped that Hershel would be able to do it once they arrived at the highway, but now fate seemed to have other plans.

He returned to the only bathroom in the house and was damn lucky to find some gauze and rubbing alcohol. The wound however was hidden behind Beth's shirt sleeve and he sure as well wasn't keen on tearing off part of her shirt. He went for a slight tear to the collar near the wound until it showed. "Ain't trying to be no pervert here," he tells himself. "Gotta get that wound cleaned."

Sadly the application of the alcohol was not enough to wake Beth out of her shock. He wrapped the gauze around her shoulder. It was still bleeding but not as much as before. Still he feared that she lost a bit too much blood. There was no way they were going to find the others in her condition.

Daryl sighed and then went to secure the house. When he returned to the bedroom he saw goosebumps appearing on Beth's skin. "I'm a dumbass," he tells himself. He pulled the blanket that was under Beth the whole time and this time Daryl placed it over her up to her neck.

There really was nothing more he could do up to that point other than to pull up a chair by the door and wait out the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**So here's the skinny on my fics: At the request of one lovely reviewer, I was inspired put up another chap for this one. (Thank you Letter words). I do plan on continuing "**The Streets**" this week too. If anything this story and "**The Streets**" might be the only fics I even plan on continuing at this point. "**Atonement**" had only a closing chapter left but I don't mind leaving it where it's at (as I'm too lazy to work on that closing chap). "**Tempting**" will unlikely be a continuing story (and I might take it down soon). I thought I had an idea where to go with that fic but I just don't have the means to continue it with the other fics I got going on. As for "**Still Here**", I've lost all drive to continue that story unless I get a big demand for it. So as you can see, I appreciate the reviews for all the stories. I also appreciate the patience you all have since I have a tendency to start new stories without major updates. Writing is hard sh*t for the A.D.H.D. mind.**

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><p><span>Chapter Five<span> (Warning: disturbing imagery in this chapter of the R-rated form)

For a moment, it seemed like the past 24 hours were a bad dream, and Beth was waking up in her own bed...until she realized it wasn't her bed. It wasn't even her own bedroom. She tried to wrap her mind around where she even was but all she remembered was her home being invaded and the lost of her loved ones. There was no daddy or Maggie to greet her and to tell her that she made it.

She took a minute to bask in the morning sunlight before creeping her way out of the foreign bedroom and around the corner into a kitchen. Daryl must have cooked something because the smell was coming from the kitchen as well. Sure enough, he was at the table scarfing down some sort of meat.

"Mornin'" he said in between bites. "How you feelin'?"

Beth rubbed her bandaged shoulder. "It still hurts like hell."

"Least the bleedin' stopped."

That wasn't her biggest concern, however. "What are we going to do, Daryl? If they weren't at the highway, how are we ever going to find them?"

"We're just gonna have to circle around. The herd wouldn't chase 'em out that far."

"Then let's go," said Beth.

"Hold up." Daryl pushed the plate of meat across the table. "Can't go anywhere with you slouchin' like that. You need to eat somethin'."

Beth reluctantly placed herself at the table but noticed something unusual about the meat. "What is this, exactly? This can't be canned."

"Hell naw. That's squirrel."

Beth pushed the plate back slightly to Daryl's surprise. "The hell's wrong with you, girl? Never had squirrel before?"

"I wasn't much of a meat eater before things..."

_Jesus_, Daryl thought. _A vegetarian pussy_. "Better get to use to it. Ain't gonna survive this world otherwise. No way I'm gonna carry you all around Georgia."

She grabbed a fork and slowly poked at the meat. "Thing ain't comin' back from the dead, girl. Go on, wanna find your family or not?" The thought never occured to Beth as to how she was going to survive outside the farm. She never thought she would have to leave it. She thought she would be safe there until the reality of walkers kicked in. Then she realized how hopeless and difficult the situation would become. Daryl was clearly equipped to survive the world. He had the crossbow and the hunting skills. What did she have? Just one measly shooting lesson with Shane and that was it. But during that lesson she thought the greatest danger would be looters.

What happened yesterday showed her otherwise.

Closing her eyes, Beth consumed a small portion of the meat. It tasted bland, close to chicken. As decent as it was, she still felt uncomfortable about eating a dead animal in a world where the dead were now eating the living.

...

There wasn't much gas in the bike, so they had to take it slow. Daryl had a map but in terrain like this, Rick and the others could be anywhere. He remembered T-Dog suggesting at one point heading to the coast believing their chances were better but Daryl never believed it. It didn't matter where they went, the walkers...and the people would still be the same everywhere.

"Maybe they left us a sign," said Beth.

"Couldn't leave us a sign when they were bein' chased off the highway."

"Then maybe we should leave a sign." A decent idea but no one had any actual destination for meeting up that would be safe from walkers. Along the way they would stop if they came across messages on buildings or signs, but none of them were by Rick or by the Greene family. When back on the road, Daryl would sometimes rev up his bike's engine in the hopes that maybe it would be heard by the right people. But after nearly a whole day of traveling, their hopes were slowly deteriorating.

Once fuel was low, Daryl pulled into a small surburb with plenty of cars parked along the street. "Gonna need the rest of the light to find fuel. We'll camp in one of these houses tonight."

Daryl checked the cars for fuel and asked for Beth to keep watch using one of the guns that Daryl had confiscated from Tim's men. The street was thankfully empty. She asked nervously. "What do I do if a walker comes...I mean?"

"You serious girl?"

"I don't think I can kill one."

Daryl understood. "Your mom was gonna kill you."

"I know...," she said trying to shake the memory of her mother's corpse attacking her from her mind. "I know now...but I still don't think I can."

As soon as Daryl was done, they spotted it, a walker...slowly making their way towards them from the end of the road. Beth's hands were shaking.

"Ya gonna shoot?"

She lost her grip on the gun and it fell to the pavement accidently going off. She gave a small shriek and backed away.

"Sh*t!" cried Daryl as he grabbed the gun. "Get inside, now."

They ran into the nearest house and Daryl quickly did a sweep of the main floor. "Close the blinds." Beth followed Daryl into each room helping to shut any blinds and curtains that could allow the walkers to see through them. So far no other signs of walkers other than the one they had spotted. But they weren't gonna take their chances. Daryl felt relaxed once the entire perimeter of the house was shielded and secured. "Better stay low." Together, they would peak through the blinds leading out to the main street watching and waiting. After about an hour, they saw no other new walkers in the area and the surburb was silent again.

"Herd woulda come through by now," said Daryl. "I think we're fine."

"What was that?"

They both held their breaths and listened. The sound was faint but it sounded like rattling. It wasn't coming from the street. Then Daryl look around the living room and then turned until he came upon a door he must have overlooked earlier. "Step back." He opened the door and a deep echo of rattling and growling came from the darkness. Daryl had his crossbow aimed but nothing came. He took out a flashlight and pointed it downwards revealing a set of wooden stairs. They listened for a bit longer. "Sounds like there's only one. Sounds stuck too."

"Should we leave it alone?" Beth asked.

"Ain't takin' no chances. Wait here." Daryl ventured down into the darkness one step at a time with his crossbow ready. At the bottom he encountered an unfurnished basement. The rattling and growling was all around him now as his light surveyed the room.

It stopped at a bed in the corner. As he got closer, Daryl could believe what he was seeing. The walker was chained to the bed from all four corners, naked. By the looks of what remained, it used to be a female, and yet it didn't seem to have starved to death. It wasn't until Daryl moved his light to the end of the bed did he see the sheets and the mattress were much more blood-soaked right at the walker's waistline. He paid no heed to the rattling of the walker as he froze there.

"Daryl?"

His lifted his light to find Beth, with her own flashlight standing just a few feet from the bed. "Go back upstairs."

But it was too late, she was seeing the same thing he was, only she had a better view of the deep cuts from the walker's legs going up the groin and her face went pale.

"I said upstairs, now!"

Beth slowly backed up and finally did what she was told. Daryl looked over at the female walker and felt a bile rise up inside of him, one that wasn't going to wash out anytime soon. The living...he knew they were awful but this was beyond reprehensible.

He could only give a silent apology as he took out his hunting knife and stabbed the chained walker in the head. Then, he searched the basement, only to find a large blue tarp. It was the best thing he could find as he covered the corpse in its entirety. He wouldn't have to look upon it but the image was already engraved in his mind.

When he got back upstairs, Beth was sitting on one of the couches hugging her knees. Daryl looked around. The place looked pretty empty. Whoever chained that woman up could have left a long time ago, abandoning her to her fate. It seemed most likely, but Daryl wasn't going to gamble on anything...not with Beth there.

"We should go."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Daryl was being far more cautious. He wasn't trusting any houses or certain buildings for shelter. Eventually he settled on a bank. Money was useless now so less likely that people would even consider it.

There was nothing but silence between him and Beth since leaving that house. Seeing that walker in the basement was an image that neither of them could push out of their minds. But there were the other disturbing thoughts...realizations that came along with it: that whoever was responsible for such a sickening act could still be alive somewhere...or that it could have easily been Beth back on that farm.

Surprisingly, she had been the one to break the silence. "The dead are eating the living. You'd think people would care a little more..."

"Hard to care about other people when you're tryin' to stay alive," said Daryl.

"Don't people have morals anymore?"

He knew Beth had been sheltered hiding out on that farm. She needed to know the grim reality of their situation, no matter how bad it was. "People don't got anythin' now. They do whatever they want. Take whatever they want. Just how it is now. Guys like Tim...there's gonna be a ton of 'em out there."

"They can't all be like that," she argued.

Daryl was getting aggravated. "You think they showed up, killed your friends, cause they were tryin' to be nice?!"

"But Rick and Shane...?"

"Shane's the reason this sh*t happened."

"What?!"

"The sonuvabitch sold us out. Went straight to Randall's people and told 'em where your daddy's farm was.."

Beth shook her head. "Why? Why would he do that?"

"Man hadn't been right in the head," said Daryl. "Before the farm, he was leadin' the group...some camp outside of Atlanta. No Rick around. After a while Rick shows up,and Shane, he started acting all funny. More angry, more stupid..."

"But he went with Otis to get meds for Carl..."

"And he came back with Otis's gun. Don't need schooling to know that he left 'im behind on purpose. Just be lucky Shane's dead now."

She couldn't believe it...she couldn't believe any of it. Daryl hadn't even shown up at the farm when Otis died. What did he know? Yet something in Beth told her that Daryl was spot on about it. He seemed to have a gift for that sort of thing. But if people like Shane couldn't be trusted now, then who could she trust? Could she even trust Daryl? Truth be told, he was the last person that Beth had expected to come back and rescue her. She knew Rick and Shane, being cops, would have been more likely. But the truth about Shane was making her question everything now. She was becoming disillusioned.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Might as well," said Daryl. "This night ain't gettin' any better."

"Why did you come back for me? I mean...why did Rick sent YOU?"

Daryl knew that main reason was that he was the only one Tim's group didn't recognized when they first attacked the farm. But then he remembered what Rick told him...how he could be easily accepted into his group as part of their planned cover. No matter how angry he was about it, there was a part of him telling him that Rick was right. He had both the look and the personality of Tim's trashy unpredictable cronies (but definitely not their morals). Yet when he and Merle first settled into the Atlanta camp, he hadn't made a good impression on Rick's people. Merle certainly wasn't helping their image. Even after all the hunting and protecting he had done for the group...even after going through hell to find Sophia, he was still written off as some violent meth-head who scared or angered people easily.

"Don't matter," he said. "Got you out, didn't I?" He headed over to the front door. "I'm takin' watch tonight. You should get some sleep."

"That woman..." Beth's voice led to Daryl stopping dead in his tracks. "I didn't see any bite marks on her. Did you?"

_'Sh*t,'_ Daryl thought. For some reason it didn't occur to Daryl until now that he didn't see any actual signs of walker bites on the woman either. He'd been so shocked by what he saw, that he failed to even think about that. But maybe it was just a fluke. Maybe the cut on her legs was a scratch from a walker or maybe a walker tried to eat her as she laid dying. It could have been anything, right?

Apparently, Beth had the same concern as she struggled to sleep. Could this mean that you could turn no matter how you die? It was bad enough trying to not to get bit. Now she had to worry about not dying in general? About Daryl dying on her?

And then there was everything that Daryl spoke of. The world was a different place now, and human beings were no longer going to be human beings anymore. They were going to steal...they were going to kill...they were going to rape. There weren't enough Grimes or Greenes in the world to counteract that anymore, because they were likely dead...which made Beth wonder what their chances really were of finding the others again. She could sense that Daryl wasn't so optimistic about their situation.

With that in mind, she didn't know what category to even place him in. He may have been the one to come back and save her. He may have been the one who spent all those toiling hours looking for Sophia. He may have been a good man. But Shane _was_ a good man, too. If he could stoop so low without warning, what were the chances of Daryl cracking under the same pressure while it's just the two of them? Beth wasn't blind to the situation anymore. She was a young sheltered female, with no fighting skills whatsoever...no courage to kill a walker, who was now completely alone with this man that she barely knew. She was starting to see that the real hell of this earth wasn't going to be the walkers eating her...it was what human beings like Tim would want to do to her or the people she love. The worst possible hell was to become that female walker, to be used and then left to die.

The shaking began, as well as the tears. Beth tried to control herself out of fear of having shock for a third time. This really was a more hopeless situation than she had ever anticipated.

Her eyes traveled over to Daryl, who was leaning against a counter located near the front entrance. The bag of weapons and his crossbow where settled against the wall. _One gun_, she thought. All she needed was one gun and maybe she could end this...end the consuming fears that were dreading her mind.

She knew that Daryl hadn't actually slept since losing the farm. And she could tell by his posture, that the lack of rest was soon to catch up to him. She peeked from behind another counter and waited. It was only a matter of time.

About an hour or so later, she could see that Daryl was now leaning against the wall with his head dropped low. She started crawling over, pausing every second she heard a snort or any matter of unusual breathing from him. Pausing, just short of his bag, she got a closer look at Daryl. Out like a light. Her hand shook as she reached over...barely holding onto the gun handle as she slowly pulled it out, praying that she wouldn't drop it again or have it go off unexpectedly.

Daryl didn't know what was stirring him from sleep, until he heard the rustling of cans from his makeshift alarm system. Shit. Had he really fallen asleep on the job? He sprung into action grabbing his crossbow, scanning the room out to check on Beth, but he was finding no sign of her in the was dreaming, right?

He looked around and found no Beth. Then his worst fears were realized when he saw the handgun that was sticking out of his bag was no longer there.

"F***! Beth!"

He ran to the front door and saw no walkers around as he stepped outside. What the hell was going on? Where the hell was Beth?

"Beth!" He ran around the side of the building and saw the backside of Beth walking down an alley. "Beth!"

She jumped as the sound of her name. Then as she slowly turned to face him, Daryl could see her shaking all over and could see the tears in her eyes. The gun was in one of her hands but she seemed unsure what to do with it.

"The hell you doin' out here with that gun, girl? We gotta get back inside!"

She didn't move.

"I said, come on!"

But still Beth just stood there, almost confused and lost in some form of trauma. Trauma. Daryl knew the past couple of days were rough on both of them, but he really thought she was holding it together...wanting to find her family and all. He thought that she still had the will to live after her cutting incident. But that was back when she was still at the farm, when she was still safe in her own little corner from what the world had become. Now that she was out here for the first time, reality was hitting her hard. His words may not have helped, but she needed to hear them if she was to have any chance of surviving out here.

The cutting took place shortly after her first state of shock. Daryl feared a possible pattern. There was worry in his voice. "Whatever your thinkin' of doin'...don't."

She was still crying as he took a few cautious steps towards her.

"Gimme the gun, Beth."

Beth was now gripping the gun with both hands. Daryl tried to yell out to her but his voice was lost. He wanted to plea...beg her not to point that gun to her head.

Imagine his shock when instead, she pointed the gun at him.

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><p><em><strong>I didn't intend a cliffhanger here but it was too good to pass up. Also I can't believe that I forgot when writing my last chapter that in my particular setting for this fic, Daryl and Beth aren't aware yet that everyone turns walker no matter how they die, so I am in the process of remedying that.<strong>_


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